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Yukari Yakumo
Yukari Yakumo is a major antagonist in Dimensional Clash IX. She works with the Big Bads, specifically ???, along with Robbie Rotten. In addition, she serves as the main antagonist of a number of character sub arcs. Appearance Her first appearance was in Perfect Cherry Blossom, where she is depicted with purple eyes and long blonde hair. She carries a pink lace parasol and a paper fan, and rides on a red gap that leads to an unknown destination. She wears a deep purple dress, a pale pink mob cap with a thin red ribbon, and smaller ribbons tied liberally on her accessories and the tips of her hair. In her appearances in Immaterial and Missing Power and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, her eyes have become dark golden. She wears a purple Chinese-style tabard with various Trigrams over a pale pink Western-style dress (similar to Ran Yakumo's outfit), wears her hair coiled up into her mob cap, and usually carries a pink parasol. She wears the same outfit in Imperishable Night, but her hair is left loose. In the Japanese community this outfit is known as the "Taoist dress" (道士服). According to ZUN, the purple dress in Perfect Cherry Blossom is her casual daywear, and the pink one with the Ba Gua symbol in Imperishable Night is the work attire she wears when she commands her Shikigami. The outfit Yukari wears in post-''Perfect Cherry Blossom'' games has two groups of solid/broken lines called trigrams on the front. A solid line represents Yang and a broken line is Yin. The top trigram (☱) is "dui" or "tui" (open) and is associated with west and water. The bottom trigram (☷) is "kūn" (field) and is associated with southwest and earth, as well as Yoni (divine passage). The two trigrams together in that order form the hexagramfor "clustering," "gathering together," and "finished", which sounds more fitting for Suika Ibuki. The hexagram "Ts'ui" formed by the combination of "tui" and "kun" results in a meaning of gathering together to persevere towards a destination. This hexagram signifies also great wisdom which is necessary for leadership when directing an assembly together to create overall prosperity for everyone. Yukari herself can be seen as an overseer of Gensokyo. Her ability to create boundaries would definitely give her the ability to bring everyone together while maintaining the harmony of the "created" world. Maybe this design was a critique on her abilities Equipment & Abilities Abilities *Yukari's strength is said to be one of the greatest in Gensokyo. *Yukari can use gaps to get from point A to point B instantly. *Manipulation over any boundary. *Infinite access to Yukari Space. Personality Yukari is known for being a very youkai-like youkai who sleeps all day and lives for the enjoyment of life. Though she rarely leaves her house, she's well-connected and is acquainted with most of the most powerful youkai as well as anyone having anything to do with the Great Hakurei Barrier or the outside world, although she rarely attacks humans. She has a tendency to toy with her opponents rather than use her full power from the start. If anyone is suited for the role of "mastermind", it's Yukari. She excels at mathematics and is experienced due to her long life. She possesses superhuman intellect, and especially surpasses in dealing with numbers. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, as Ran Yakumo said, this intellect is something that even Ran is not able to understand, to the extent that for example that she is able to determine the depths of the darkness of Avici or determine in an instant how long it would take for Ursa Major to devour the North Star, as it seems. Concretely to what extent this amazing intellect goes is hard to know, but it would be no mistake to think that this intellect far surpasses that of humans. She often has a great deal of insight and understanding about whatever happens in Gensokyo, and possesses considerable intellectual prowess, as well. Though she seems flaky and unreliable most of the time, when the safety or security of Gensokyo is at stake, she won't hesitate to get involved, even if it means using others to do the work for her. For example, in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she treats Tenshi Hinanawi with much hostility after finding out the plot of the Heavens. She could easily be either a villain or a heroine, depending on her whims. Yukari deals with problems by manipulating others to act to resolve things for her. She seems to rarely act directly except in particularly egregious situations. In all cases, she rarely lets anyone know what her true aims or goals are, and sometimes these goals are extremely abstract. Yukari has a well-deserved reputation of being fickle, whimsical, and lying often, and thus many characters in Gensokyo dislike her. For whatever reason, Yukari takes it all in stride and does not seriously deny any of those comments. She seems to actively try to keep her more obviously-altruistic actions a secret, such as her donations to the Hakurei Shrine in Strange and Bright Nature Deity. She possibly cultivates this image to ensure that people continue to fear her as a youkai, as this is what her true goal for a particularly complex gambit is revealed to be at the end of Cage in Lunatic Runagate. In the clash, she is cold and heartless. Despite her history, it appears as though she has no true friend, only seeing everyone as a pawn or an enemy. This has made her despised by nearly everyone she encounters. It is also implied that she had a hand in Reimu's upbringing. Due to Reimu's dislike of Yukari, it's possible she was manipulative as an adoptive parent. She also seems to have a greatly accumulated knowledge of psychology, although this has yet to be explained. Pre-Clash Biography According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, an apparent article on Yukari appears in the first edition of the Gensokyo Chronicle from 1,200 years ago. However, this article did not refer to her name as "Yukari Yakumo". It is believed she chose this name for herself, the name "Yukari" signifying that she was a youkai of boundaries, and the name "Yakumo" from a poem about creating a great fenced mansion where one can live a peaceful life in seclusion, and a strong fortress to keep the gods trapped inside. This land would be Gensokyo. Saigyou Ayakashi Occurrence Over a thousand years ago, Yukari met and became friends with a human girl named Yuyuko Saigyouji. Over time, Yuyuko was driven to suicide out of despair over her ability to control death. After Yuyuko died, her body was used to seal the Saigyou Ayakashi, a youkai tree which drained the lives of too many humans, by an unknown individual who hoped Yuyuko would never have to suffer and experience pain again. The seal was created as the boundary between life and death. Yukari continued to be friends with Yuyuko's ghost, although Yuyuko gradually forgot who she had been and why she had died. It is not stated who sealed the Saigyou Ayakashi. It was someone who held Yuyuko very dear, judging by the record ("My wish... is that she will never again reincarnate, and never again suffer pain..."). Yuyuko's profile describes the hypothetical breaking of the seal as "breaching the boundary". The boundary sealing the Saigyou Ayakashi is apparently the boundary between life and death, as this is what the BGM that plays during the Saigyou Ayakashi's reflowering represents. Boundary of Life and Death is one of Yukari's spell cards. This possibly implies it was Yukari who sealed the Saigyou Ayakashi. Yukari's profile reveals she knew all along that Yuyuko's body was sealing it, and gives a clear motive, as the tree was killing too many humans. As another possible indication, The Grimoire of Marisa brings up the butterfly dream regarding Yuyuko's spell card during the Saigyou Ayakashi's reflowering, which is a theme associated with Yukari. One day, Yuyuko requested that Yukari use her power to repair the border between the Netherworld and Gensokyo. Yukari sleepily set off to do so. She had known Yuyuko's plan to make the Saigyou Ayakashi bloom could never succeed, but was too busy sleeping to say or do anything about it, or to put the border back to normal after everything was finished, which put her on a collision course with the heroines of Perfect Cherry Blossom. Lunar War Also over a thousand years ago, the youkai now named Yukari Yakumo organized an army of youkai and led them in an invasion of the Moon, of which Yuyuko was also present for. Publicly, Yukari states the invasion was to take the Lunarians' source of power, an infinite energy source which let them play all day. However, the youkai were subsequently routed by the Lunarians, who possessed superior technology and magic, and forced to retreat to Earth. While Yukari claims she organized the invasion out of desire for that power, her true purpose may be that she did it to teach the youkai a lesson about starting wars of conquest; namely, that it was a bad idea, as since that time, no youkai have attempted to expand their territory beyond Gensokyo. Border of Gensokyo Since then, Yukari has had numerous roles in managing Gensokyo and the youkai. She authored a system of constellations for the youkai. She enacted the Youkai Expansion Project 500 years ago by creating a border between illusion and reality around Gensokyo. She was one of several youkai who suggested the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier 120 years ago and presumably was one of several that contributed to its creation. The Gensokyo Record in Perfect Cherry Blossom's prologue says that the original Gensokyo boundary (presumably the first "boundary between inside and outside" mentioned in Yukari's Perfect Memento in Strict Sense article) was created by priests, but ZUN said in his e-mails that the Gensokyo Record is not reliable, and that only the long lived youkai knows the true history of Gensokyo. Hieda no Akyuu firmly believes Yukari was involved and Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 26's prologue states that Yukari being its actual creator is an ongoing rumor. According to Rinnosuke, Yukari's power is what separates Gensokyo from the outside world. Yukari and "The Vampire Incident" Regarding the Vampire Incident in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, it is not stated who were the powerful youkai that defeated the vampire, who signed the contract with the vampire, or who was the one who wrote the original draft of the Spell Card rules that came afterwards (as it was also written on youkai contract paper, Hieda no Akyuu feels it wasn't the Shrine Maiden). However, the colophon at the end reveals that Yukari is the author of a work called "Vampire Pact". This possibly implies her involvement in at least one of these things (if not all three) in the fact that Yukari may've had been involved in the deal with the devil, Remilia Scarlet. At the very least, Strange Creators of Outer World states that she was apparently involved in the creation of the spell card rules. On the related note to the contract, it's explicitly stated in her Perfect Cherry Blossom profile that she's the one responsible for outsiders ending up in Gensokyo, where most of them get devoured by youkai. Her involvement is made even more explicit in Chapter 14 of Wild and Horned Hermit, where Yukari reveals to Kasen Ibaraki that having the zashiki-warashi sent to the outside world takes precedence above keeping them in Gensokyo, and then cryptically comments, "Gensokyo's getting the food to fill the stomachs of all of its youkai from somewhere." This could further extend to an article on Symposium of Post-mysticism, where there were human bones near a well, but no human of Gensokyo was missing and Yukari made no reference to the outside world humans, calling it a "misunderstanding"; the bones later on disappeared. Underground Agreement She made a deal with certain youkai to allow them to have their own realm underground in Former Hell if they pacified the evil spirits there. For a while, Yukari took it upon herself to make regular check-ups on various aspects of Gensokyo such as the Human Village or the barrier, but eventually took on Ran Yakumo as a shikigami and left such tasks to her. Notable Actions Nirn It was heavily implied that, early in Nirn, Yukari and Robbie were directly responsible for a large number of youkai appearing in the clash, including Utsuho Reiuji, Kanako Yasaka, Yuyuko Saigyouji, and Yuuka Kazami to list a few. From this, one can deduct that they are also responsible for the appearance of Remilia Scarlet and Sakuya Izayoi, as well as Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei as well. The motivations behind this are currently unknown. Yukari made her first official debut in front of Thomas Cloutier and Utsuho Reiuji. She first scared the terrorist with one of her gaps, and chlorofoamed Utsuho, who tried to attack her. She then explained to Thomas the history behind Touhou- specifically the youkai. While doing this, she heavily implied that there was a romantic relation between Thomas and Utsuho, probably as one of her many pranks and jokes she likes playing on people. She also consistently offered the terrorist a shishkebab. Eventually, Utsuho woke up and ate a kebab herself, which forced the terrorist to reluctantly give in. As it turns out, the duo truly enjoyed the meal, and when questioning Yukari on what it was made from, she insisted it was "Local Gensokyo Beef". However, after both were done with their meals, it was revealed that "Local Gensokyo Beef" means people, and in this case, Ulfric. Yukari promises to return to the duo with a "less exotic food choice" before gapping herself away. Later, we see her with Robbie Rotten, helping to get the latter to finish their education, much to Robbie's distaste. Eventually, the villain gives in to the youkai, and Yukari teaches Robbie advanced mathematics, while the duo eat shish kebabs, also made of "Local Gensokyo Beef". Yukari is next scene with Robbie Rotten commanding the armies of the dead. The duo instigate their attack on many clashers who received news of this through Aya Shameimaru. However, the attack failed, even when they had powerful heroes and villains from previous clashes. It was later revealed, however, that it was Yukari's plans from the beginning to fail to season her army for future conflict. Yukari later briefly appears to first spy on Utsuho and Thomas when the two required privacy, and then once more to berate and humiliate the two of them for failing once more at stopping Marisa Kirisame from stealing their stuff. Yukari later appears in place of ??? in the James Claws incident. While brief, she releases the crazed character from a cage the clashers bound them in, only to disappear later. Later still, Yukari appears before Thomas and Utsuho once more, notifying them of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which she views as an obstruction to her plans, effectively pitting the duo against the Mansion. However, when the two fail, Yukari shows legitamate disappointment that both sides survived relatively intact, revealing that she was hoping for Thomas to die so she can fill in a spot in her meat locker reserved for him. At the end of Nirn, Skynet messages Yukari about unknown plans between the duo, albeit reluctantly. Yukari, however, seems overjoyed at Skynet's response to her. Star Craft Yukari has yet to do anything sinister in Star Craft. Relationships ??? Yukari works with ??? and has good relations with her. She usually tries to follow her orders and make sure all of her plans work. While most seem to end up failing, ending up in slight disappointment from ???, Yukari tries her best. Robbie Rotten Robbie is Yukari's coworker. This being said, it is very clear who is more powerful between the two, and as such, who is the commanding force when the Necromancer is not present. Yukari is dominating over Robbie, and appears to view him as nothing more than a tool she can use. Reimu Hakurei As a friend, she often visits Reimu at the Hakurei Shrine and often drops by Marisa's house randomly, to which in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense Marisa complains that Yukari never uses the door. Yukari steals food from Reimu in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, stays at Reimu's shrine for at least a month into the winter in Curiosities of Lotus Asia, and is among several characters when Reimu complains about youkai visitors to her shrine in Wild and Horned Hermit. She sometimes visits to discuss philosophical matters like in Seasonal Dream Vision, or Strange and Bright Nature Deity where she gave Reimu out-of-season taro roots from the outside world, asking her to think about their meaning. As an employer, she's given Reimu several missions in Subterranean Animism, Imperishable Night and Silent Sinner in Blue. An offhand comment in the first stage of Imperishable Night shows she compensated Reimu for it. As a mentor, she is often teaching Reimu not just about Gensokyo (she does that a lot, too, shown several times in Oriental Sacred Place) but also how to do her job as Shrine Maiden. She shows up when Reimu purposefully damages the barrier in Curiosities of Lotus Asia to tell her not to do that, reminds Reimu of her youkai-crushing duties in Imperishable Night's extra, and makes Reimu train hard to prepare for Silent Sinner in Blue (Curiosities of Lotus Asia states the latter is rare for her). The latter included Yukari attacking Reimu at unannounced times. She seems to be secretly looking after Reimu in other ways, as she sneaks yen donations into the Hakurei Shrine's donation offering box when Reimu isn't looking in chapter 23 of Strange and Bright Nature Deity. Like most characters, Reimu finds Yukari extremely annoying. Yukari doesn't mind, clearly joking "How rude!" or "What a greeting!" to such things. In the case of Seasonal Dream Vision for Marisa, she got angry over Yukari's random visit, but it was because Yukari was curious as to Marisa's thoughts on the matter regarding the flower incident, so presumably many of Yukari's other visits to Marisa are for her own amusement, as well. However, in the clash, Yukari seems to anticipate Reimu's defeat for unknown reasons, pushing her to take multiple actions against her. It is also said that Reimu was reared by Yukari for unknown reasons. However, due to her abusive, manipulative nature and poor parenting skills, Reimu despises Yukari, and the two seem to wish mutual death to the other. Takumi Due to his close ties with Reimu, Yukari sees Takumi as a viable tool and weapon for her to use against the Shrine Maiden on emotional standpoints, sensing the bond the two secretly harbor for one another. In Pandora, she invades the Champion's hideout directly, and attacks the sniper. It is currently unknown whether the Hoshidan prince died in the attack or not. Patchouli Knowledge Patchouli Knowledge first meets Yukari in her scenario in Immaterial and Missing Power. In Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Yukari places her in charge of watching the underworld in her victory quote to her. Patchouli later informs and urges her to act about the evil spiritscoming out of the underground in Subterranean Animism's prologue. Yukari finally agrees to act because she "can't let them all just do whatever they want again". It is unknown (even to Patchouli) which incident Yukari is referring to (there are many possible ones). Patchouli continues to collaborate with Yukari regarding the underground, as she informs Yukari of the Palanquin Ship in a Touhou Hisoutensoku victory quote. Patchouli also serves as a spy and administrator for Yukari, updating her on the activities and whereabouts of Trashcanhead and Thomas Cloutier as it relates to their "plan." Ran Yakumo Ran Yakumo is Yukari's main shikigami. Yukari is the one who's given Ran her current name. An interview in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red with Aya Shameimaru implies Ran came to be Yukari's shikigami because of all the power it promised, and is quite satisfied with the result despite losing her freedom. Ran was not born before the Genso-Lunar War, so she must have become Yukari's shikigami sometime after that. Yukari keeps the relationship on a user-to-shikigami level. This relationship is analogous to a user and its computer in the outside world, and Yukari insists heavily that Ran is not a fox, but is a tool to be used. Yukari's own thoughts and perspective in Chapter Five of Cage in Lunatic Runagate refers to Ran with computer terms, such as programming or debugging. Ran is still more advanced than a computer, so Yukari attempts philosophical discussion with Ran from time to time, but typically gets boring responses involving numbers and calculations. Yukari loves Ran very much, but in terms of how one would love a tool they own. Ran often "forgets" she is a shikigami, taking matters into her own hands without Yukari's orders. This can't be helped because Yukari sleeps a lot. Yukari will physically discipline Ran when this happens (by whacking her with her umbrella). Using a tool and keeping it in good shape (via discipline) shows love for your shikigami (according to Yukari). Ran accepts and seems satisfied with this, and also seems to care for her master, attempting to encourage Yukari after the second Genso-Lunar War failed. But she won't disagree that her master is annoying and is often driven to much frustration by Yukari's double-speak and secrecy. Chen Ran also has a shikigami named Chen. As Ran's shikigami, Chen follows the will of both Ran Yakumo and Yukari Yakumo. It's implied she's quite a handful, and unlike Ran, Yukari views Chen as both Ran's shikigami and their pet, saying in Subterranean Animism, "I wonder where our cat went off to? It's such a pain when she just suddenly disappears like that. I wish you'd take care to program your own familiar properly. Without any bugs." Unlike Ran Yakumo, Chen is never called "Chen Yakumo", even when "Chen" and "Ran Yakumo" show up in the same sentence in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. Satori Komeiji Due to having Patchouli constantly monitor the underground, it is revealed that Satori Komeiji finds Yukari annoying, and wishes to be rid of the youkai for peace and quietness. This annoyed Satori to the extent of agreeing with Thomas Cloutier to wage war on Yukari. However, as times passed, ans Satori began to starve, Yukari offered the subterranean queen human flesh, which managed to feed Satori for the time being. This sparked the beginnings of an alliance between the two youkai. Renko Usami It is hinted that the two have a relationship with each other, and that Renko is the most important character in Yukari;s potential defeat. However, beyond this fact, not much is known between the two. Trivia *Yukari is found to be annoying by many clashers, and has garnered the dislike of many of the writers. *Yukari's theme is Necrofantasia. It can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=195XntreoMc Category:Characters Category:Player Characters Category:Touhou Project Category:Newcomers Category:Chaotic Neutral Category:Frogies Category:Monsters Category:Female Category:Irredeemable Category:Youkai